Mitsotakis: The Strategic Agenda takes into account all important Greek priorities

"I want to express my satisfaction for the fact that a decision was taken at the European Council level on the positions of responsibility at the EU level," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Thursday in Brussels.

The prime minister added: "As you know, I was one of the two negotiators on behalf of the European People's Party (EPP) political family. The Council's proposal to the European Parliament is for Ursula von der Leyen to continue as President of the European Commission. It was also decided to elect Antonio Costa as President of the Council for the next two and a half years and also to elect Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy."

Mitsotakis added: "This process was completed with much greater speed, I want to emphasise, compared to the previous election cycle."

The prime minister also referred to the agreement on the Strategic Agenda which takes into account the Greek positions. In particular, he said: "And of course I should emphasise the fact that the strategic agenda which was adopted today by the European Council takes into account all the important Greek national priorities, the greater emphasis we must place on defence issues, the greater emphasis we give already to the issues of migration and especially the external guarding of the borders, the emergence of competitiveness issues. These are critical issues for our country, which have also found their place in the European strategic agenda for the next five years, which will obviously also be co-shaped by the European Commission."

Regarding the discussion on common defence, the Greek premier replied that we expect the European Commission to submit concrete proposals and options on how defence cooperation can be strengthened at all levels. "Obviously there was no agreement today on joint financing of European defence spending. But it is something that cannot be ruled out that it will happen in the future. I will continue to insist in this direction."